1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner and more particularly to an air conditioner for performing room air-conditioning efficiently irrespective of the direction of blowing of thermoregulated air.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is general that an air conditioner set up for a structure or building such as a house, or the like, is constituted by an interior equipment set up in the interior of the structure, that is, indoors, and an exterior equipment set up in the exterior of the structure.
FIG. 13 shows an interior equipment 91 constituting an air conditioner 90. The interior equipment 91 has a housing 92 shaped substantially like a rectangular parallelepiped so as to extend in the direction of the depth in the drawing. The housing 92 is mounted on a wall surface 93 in the interior of a room. The interior equipment 91 is mounted on a position near a ceiling 94 in order to make efficient use of the interior space.
The interior equipment 91 premised on the aforementioned setting-up form employs a structure in which interior air can be sucked in from the upper part of the housing 92 and blown out into the room from the lower part of the housing 92 in order to perform room air-conditioning efficiently.
Specifically, the housing 92 of the interior equipment 91 has an air inlet 95 provided at the upper part thereof, and an air outlet 96 provided at the lower front surface (opposite to the wall surface 93) thereof.
The air inlet 95 and the air outlet 96 are connected to each other through an air passage 97 provided in the housing 92 so that air having flown in through the air inlet 95 flows out through the air outlet 96. A heat exchanger 98 which is a heat exchanging means and a cross flow fan 99 which is an air blowing means are disposed in the air passage 97. A blowout passage 97A curved from just under the cross flow fan 99 toward the air outlet 96 is formed in the downstream side of the air passage 97.
The air outlet 96 is provided with a wind direction plate 101 for changing the direction of blowing of thermoregulated air such as cooled air, heated air, or the like, to be blown out to an opening portion 100 through the air outlet 96.
As shown in FIG. 14, the wind direction plate 101 is shaped substantially like a belt continuing along the direction of the longitudinal length (the direction perpendicular to the paper in the drawing) of the housing 92 and is made rotatable around a pivot 102 which is provided in the housing 92 so as to be parallel with the wall surface 93. The range of rotation of the wind direction plate 101 is set to be from a position (forward ventilation position) indicated by the two-dot-and-dash line A in the drawing to a position (downward ventilation position) indicated by the two-dot-and-dash line B in the drawing.
Returning to FIG. 13, in the aforementioned interior equipment 91, interior air is sucked into the air passage 97 through the air inlet 95 by the cross flow fan 99, cooled or heated by the heat exchanger 98 and thermoregulated to a predetermined temperature. The thus thermoregulated air is sent out to the air outlet 96 through the blowout passage 97A and blown out as cooled or heated air toward the interior of a room.
Returning to FIG. 14 again, when the air conditioner 90 is in air-cooling operation, cooled air is blown out in the direction of the arrow C in the drawing with the wind direction plate 101 rotated to the forward ventilation position. When the air conditioner 90 is in air-heating operation contrariwise, heated air is blown out to the obliquely downward direction of the arrow D in the drawing with the wind direction plate 101 rotated to the obliquely downward ventilation position.
Incidentally, when the air conditioner 90 is out of operation, the wind direction plate 101 is used to serve as a cover for substantially shutting an opening portion 100 of the air outlet 96 by rotating the wind direction plate 101 to a position (not shown) in which the surface of the wind direction plate 101 is contiguous to the outer surface of the housing 92.
Hereupon, in the case where thermoregulated air in the aforementioned air conditioner 90 is to be blown out of the air outlet 96 in the vertically downward direction of the arrow E in the drawing, it is necessary to rotate the wind direction plate 101 to a position (vertically downward ventilation position) indicated by the solid line F in the drawing.
The aforementioned air conditioner 90 however has a problem that air-conditioning efficiency is poor in the case of vertically downward ventilation of thermoregulated air, when it is compared with the case of forward ventilation and obliquely downward ventilation of thermoregulated air.
That is, the shape of the opening of the air outlet 96 seen from the front of the air conditioner 90 (when viewed so as to face the wall surface 93) is made to be a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape which is long laterally. The short side size of the substantial area of the opening in the case where the wind direction plate 101 is rotated to the forward ventilation position and the short side size of the substantial area of the opening in the case where the wind direction plate 101 is rotated to the obliquely downward ventilation position are G and H, respectively, whereas the short side size of the substantial area of the opening in the case where the wind direction plate 101 is rotated to the vertically downward ventilation position is I which is shorter than the aforementioned sizes G and H.
In other words, because the substantial area of the opening of the air outlet 96 in the case where thermoregulated air is blown vertically downward is narrowed when it is compared with the case where thermoregulated air is blown forward or obliquely downward, a sufficient air quantity cannot be obtained, so that there arises a problem that air-conditioning efficiency becomes poor.
Further, the blowout passage 97A formed in the downstream side of the air passage 97 is shaped so that blown air resistance is minimized when thermoregulated air is blown forward or obliquely downward.
When the wind direction plate 101 is rotated to the vertically downward ventilation position in order to blow thermoregulated air vertically downward, the wind direction plate 101 however constitutes resistance in the blowout passage 97A, so that there arises a problem that a sufficient air quantity cannot be obtained from this point of view.
Incidentally, according to Japanese Patent Publication No. 47165/1991, there is shown an air conditioner in which blowout wind speed is kept higher than a certain range by an area changing member for changing the area of the air outlet (conventional example 1). On the other hand, according to Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 160252/1989, there is shown an air conditioner having a wind direction adjusting plate (wind direction plate), and a shielding plate for shielding the air outlet, in which the shielding plate is stored in a storage portion when the air conditioner is operated (conventional example 2).
The conventional example 1 is however designed so that when the quantity of air blown from a fan is reduced, the area changing member is pressed out into the blowout passage to reduce the area of the opening of the air outlet so that the speed of wind (speed of air) blown out through the air outlet is kept higher than a predetermined value by so-called venturi effect.
That is, the conventional example 1 aims at avoiding the lowering of the wind speed regardless of the reduction of the quantity of air blown from the fan but does not aim at obtaining a sufficient wind quantity (air quantity) regardless of the direction of blowing of air sent out from the air outlet. Accordingly, the conventional example 1 does not serve as a measure to solve the aforementioned problem.
On the other hand, the conventional example 2 also aims at opening/shutting the air outlet through the shielding plate in accordance with the operation/stop of the air conditioner. That is, because the shielding plate in the conventional example 2 is stored in the storage portion while the air conditioner is in operation, the shielding plate has no specific function. Accordingly, the conventional example 2 does not serve as a measure to solve the aforementioned problem.
The aforementioned problem arises similarly not only in the case where the interior equipment constituting the air conditioner is mounted on a wall surface in the interior of a room but also in the case where the interior equipment is set up on the floor in the interior of a room or embedded in the ceiling in the interior of a room, because the shape of the blowout passage is constant.
Further, this problem arises similarly not only in the air conditioner of the type in which the interior equipment and the exterior equipment are set up separately in the interior and exterior of a building but-also in the so-called integrated type air conditioner in which the interior equipment and the exterior equipment are put into the one and the same housing so that the housing is, for example, mounted on a window sash.